SAN BENITO, Texas (KVEO) — A 10-year-old boy that caught the nation’s eyes after asking a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent for help, was reunited with his mother on Friday.
The boy, originally from Nicaragua, was reunited with his mother Meylin, at La Posada Providencia in the city of San Benito, an emergency shelter for families who flee to the U.S., according to their Facebook.
In a video from early April, the 10-year-old boy is seen asking a CBP agent for help, saying he was walking with a group of people when they left him behind near the U.S.-Mexico Border, according to NewsNation Now.
“I was with a group to turn myself into you, and they left me behind and I came to look for help,” he told an agent in Spanish. “I came looking because I didn’t know where to go and they can also kidnap me.”
In a statement, CBP said the footage was recorded the morning of April 1 on a rural road outside La Grulla, Texas.
Misael Obregon, who says he is Meylin’s brother, said on his YouTube channel that the mother and son fled Nicaragua because the boy’s father was physically and emotionally abusive.
On April 12, Obregon said Meylin was kidnapped, and he hadn’t spoken with her in eight days.
On April 14, Obregon announced Meylin had been released from her kidnappers and would stay in the Rio Grande Valley near La Posada Providencia to be close to her son.
On April 16 Obregon said Meylin formally requested her son’s custody for them to be reunited.
After almost a month of a custody battle, the 10-year old’s father gave custody to Meylin, and the mother and son were able to be reunited, according to Obregon.
“We are so happy that they are together again, and wish them well on their resettlement journey,” La Posada Providencia stated on a Facebook post.
After being processed by the Border Patrol, unaccompanied children are transferred to Health and Human Services until they can be released to a sponsor, usually a parent or close relative.
